Short Interest in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Declines By 13.3%

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,360,000 shares, a drop of 13.3% from the January 15th total of 10,800,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM traded down $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,040,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,645,758. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a twelve month low of $44.92 and a twelve month high of $66.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.62. The company has a current ratio of 5.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 55.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ADM shares. Stephens dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. JT Stratford LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 37,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after buying an additional 10,850 shares during the period. Kinloch Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 44,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,232,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,223,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,344,000 after buying an additional 14,727 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.8% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,328,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,658,000 after buying an additional 843,662 shares during the period. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth about $2,582,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

About Archer-Daniels-Midland

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company engages in the procurement, transportation, storage, processing, and merchandising of agricultural commodities, ingredients, flavors, and solutions in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition.